Obama rejects Israeli criticism of UN settlements vote

JERUSALEM (AP) — President Barack Obama is rejecting Israeli allegations that he orchestrated last month's U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements, which Washington declined to veto last month.

In an interview with the "Uvda" program on Israel's Channel 2 TV, Obama said that such accusations "may work well with respect to deflecting attention from the problem of settlements, they may play well with Bibi's political base as well as the Republican base here in the United States, but they don't match up with the facts."

"Bibi" is a widely used nickname for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom Obama has had frosty relations throughout his presidency.

The U.S. abstained from last month's 14-0 vote to condemn Israeli settlement activity, which Washington views as a major impediment to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.